


the kids are alright

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Bi Daisy, F/F, F/M, Foster Kids AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-05-28 13:18:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: Finally believing that her past won't catch up with her again, Daisy has three main concerns: Why are her Mom and Phil still not dating? Does she like Tess or does she like Lincoln? And just who is that new girl Tess keeps hanging out with?Moving into a group home, Sinara has her own problems: Adjusting to life after juvy. Rich kid Kasius constantly butting into her business. And Daisy trying to figure out things that are none of her business.





	1. Daisy I

Daisy poked her head into her mom’s study on her way down the hallway. “Hey, I’m heading out now, okay?”

“You got a sweater?”May asked, and Daisy rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom. It’s not even cold, though.”

“It will be once the sun sets.” They had had this discussion basically every time Daisy’s left the house since she first was placed in foster care with May all those years ago. By now it was almost a ritual. “Will you be back for dinner? Phil and Leo are coming over.”

“Probably, yeah.” She was a few steps down the hall when she turned back around.“What’s Phil making?”

May raised an eyebrow.“Who says Phil’s cooking?”

“Experience,”Daisy deadpanned. Phil was always the one to cook when he came around. Which was very often.

When she had first moved in him being there so much - after the initial ‘getting to know you’ period where it had just been her and May - was what had convinced Daisy they were dating. Honestly, part of her still wasn’t entirely convinced they  _ weren’t _ . 

Fitz had thought the same thing after he’d moved in with Coulson, who’d agreed to be his guardian in the States so he could accept his stipend to study abroad, since he was too young to come by himself.

(“Does friends mean the same thing here as it means in Scotland?”he’d asked Daisy incredulously when they’d found them cuddled up asleep on the couch after their monthly movie night.)

May grinned. “Ratatouille, I think.”

“Cool.” Daisy returned the smile.“I’ll definitely be back for dinner.”

 

Daisy smiled to herself as she locked her bike to the rack near the group home, spotting the bright purple bike she knew belonged to Tess. She’d hoped to see her here; Tess hadn’t been to the same home like Daisy once had, but she’d also spent a long time in the system. 

With the local youth center offering special programmes for foster kids, most of them knew each other, and so Tess came around sometimes, too. 

Some of the girls found them annoying for it, saying now that they’d been adopted they had no place hanging out there, but most of them were their friends.

“Hey, Raina,”Daisy said pleasantly as she the other girl opened the door for her. Raina, one of the aforementioned girls who didn’t see what Daisy wanted in the group home, rolled her eyes. “Hello, Daisy. How kind of you to grace us with your presence. The other saint’s in there.”

She indicated the living room with a jerk of her head. Daisy blushed. “I’m - I’m not here to see Tess.”

She just so happened to be here a tad early for group. And it wasn’t like she had known for sure Tess would be here today.

But Raina was already striding down the hall. “Tell it to someone who cares, kid.”

“Hey, Pepper,”Daisy called into the kitchen as she made her way down the hall aswell. Pepper’d just started working at the group home when Daisy had been placed there and had spent a lot of time with her. It had been an emergency placement because they’d found nowhere else to stick her on such short notice; she’d only been ten and the home was for teen girls.“Need any help? Hi, Natasha.”

“No thanks, love, we’ve got it covered,”Pepper replied. Natasha, chopping vegetables, grinned at her. “You can do the dishes after lunch, though.”

“Looking forward to it,”she replied and continued her way to the living room where she indeed found Tess. 

On the couch with some girl she’d never seen before, the two whispering intently. 

Daisy stopped in the doorway, trying hard to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She really had no right to be jealous. Tess and she were friends and nothing more, even if she had some dreams to the contrary. Being jealous was ridiculous. That didn’t stop her from glaring at the new girl - who evidently felt her eyes on her because she looked up right at that moment.

She said something to Tess, so quietly Daisy didn’t catch it, and then Tess was looking at her, too. Unlike the new girl she was smiling, though. “Hi, Daisy.”

She came over to give Daisy a hug, her friend stayed put on the couch.

“Daisy, Sinara,”Tess said, gesturing to both girls in turn. “Sinara just moved in here this morning.”

“Hello, Sinara. Nice to meet you,”Daisy said, offering a small smile that Sinara didn’t return. She simply nodded curtly, face unreadable.

Daisy looked from her back to Tess when she realised that was all she was going to get.“So, uh, do you two know each other?”

“Yeah, we go way back,”replied Tess. Daisy could tell that she was about to elaborate but Sinara cut her off with a pointed look. Tess faltered and changed tracks. “You joining for lunch, too, Daisy?”

“Guess so.” Daisy shrugged, trying to covertly eye Sinara. “I’m kinda early for group, anyway.”

Now Sinara finally spoke up. “Why would you be joining group? Don’t they offer that where you’re placed?”

It sounded oddly accusatory. Daisy couldn’t help but blush, almost certain she could expect a reaction similar to Raina’s from Sinara. “No. I mean, I’m not placed in a group home. I’m - I got adopted a while back.”

“What are you doing here, then?” Definitely accusatory now.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Leave her be, Sinara. I’m not in a group home either, am I? Pepper thinks it’s good for everyone to mix and exchange experiences, you know.”

“Yeah.” A slightly friendlier tone towards Tess, Daisy noted. “Potts threatened we’d do group therapy as soon as I got here.”

“It’s actually nice,”Tess said. She sounded more amused than annoyed. “You’ll see in an hour.”

Sinara simply pulled a disgusted face in response, then left the room without further comment.

Tess grinned at Daisy and shrugged. “She’s not as bad as she likes to seem, I swear.”

“I’ll take your word for that,”Daisy said, and did her best to swallow all the questions about the new girl she wanted to ask.


	2. Sinara I

Sinara went to unpack the rest of her things. Not that she really had a lot of things to unpack but she wasn’t up to socialising. Tess was one thing, but the other girls? No, thanks. Especially some adopted kid still hanging around the unlucky ones still stuck in the system. That Daisy girl already rubbed her the wrong way. Who willingly came to group therapy in some stupid group home? When she’d heard they did group here, Sinara had been tempted to ask if they could just sent her back to juvy instead. Of course, they’d made her do a bunch of stupid nonsense there, too.

Case in point, the stack of letters that fell onto her bed when she pulled a sweater out of her bag. She didn’t even really know why she hadn’t thrown them out in juvy where they had forced her to participate in the stupid pen pal programme. Instead, she had packed them with the rest of her few belongings, maybe just so she had more to pack.

She should just throw them away now, she thought, and then stuffed them in her nightstand instead before turning to the rest of her things.

Once she was done, she considered going back downstairs right away but then decided to wait until someone called her for lunch. She’d rather miss lunch than unnecessarily socialise with the other girls.

She went over to the shared bathroom and grabbed a handful of bobby pins. Potts had said she could take any of the stuff she needed until she could get some of her own. They hadn’t been allowed bobby pins at all in juvy. Properly doing her hair was one of the things she’d looked forward to most about getting out, no matter how weird that sounded.

By the time she was done braiding her hair, there was a knock on her door. Then it was opened before she could reply.

“You okay?”Tess asked, going for nonchalant, but voice softer than necessary. Sinara rolled her eyes. “Course I am. Don’t see why you knock if you’re not gonna wait for an answer. Didn’t learn better manners since I saw you last?”

“Apparently not.” Tess was smiling. “C’mon, grumpy. Lunch is ready.”

* * *

 

Lunch had been fine, enough girls around the table that no one had really taken note of her adding nothing to any of the conversations. But now she was stuck in the kitchen doing the dishes with Tess’ friend. She’d volunteered to do them in hopes of being so slow she’d miss some of the stupid group therapy stuff. She hadn’t expected anyone to help her.

“So,”Daisy started as Sinara handed her another plate to dry. “How come you ended up here? New to the system or did your last placement not work out?”

Sinara gave her only the briefest of looks. At least Tess had apparently kept her mouth shut like she’d asked her to.

Daisy was already backpedalling. “If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s fine. Sorry, I just was -”

“Just got out of juvy,”Sinara cut her off. Everyone would soon know that anyway, she was sure Potts would bring it up in group. And she couldn’t have this girl thinking she was hurting her fragile feelings or some bullshit.

“Oh,”was all Daisy managed in return.

“Yeah.” Sinara repressed a smirk at the look on her face. “You done with that plate?”

* * *

 

“Raina, anything to share?”Potts asked as they sat in the living room.

Sinara couldn’t believe the woman had actually made them sit in a circle like in some kind of TV show.

Raina had her arms crossed and looked about as happy to be there as Sinara was. “Make the new kid tell us something.”

“That’s not how we do it,”Potts said patiently. “Sinara’ll share once she’s settled in and comfortable doing so-”

“What do you wanna know?”Sinara interrupted. It wasn’t like she actually wanted to tell these girls anything but Potts’ sanctimonious drivel was annoying her.

Raina shrugged. Clearly she’d only been trying to deflect, or just liked complaining for the sake of things.

“Why were you in juvy?”one of the other girls blurted out. Kara, if Sinara wasn’t mistaken. She raised an eyebrow at her. Kara didn’t back off. “What? I heard you tell Daisy you just got out. I think we have a right to know what you were in for.”

“Cutting someone for not minding their damn business,”Sinara deadpanned, at the same time as Potts said, “You don’t have to answer, Sinara” Then she added,“But please refrain from inappropriate jokes.”

“Yes, she does.” Raina had uncrossed her arms now, leaning forward expectantly. “Kara’s right. We have a right to know. We’re being made to share a house with a felon.”

“You’ve been to juvy, Raina.” Natasha sounded almost amused.

Raina glared at her. “Yeah, for fraud! It’s not like you people have identities worth stealing.”

“Aggravated battery,”Sinara said, tone implying it was really no big deal. The girls fell silent to look at her in varying degrees of surprise and horror. She saw that Daisy girl looking at Tess instead of her for some reason. She shrugged. “That’s what I was in for. Aggravated battery.”

The others collectively turned to Potts to see if Sinara was messing with them. Potts sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and nodding.

“Oh my god,”Kara breathed out. Raina got up so forcefully her chair almost toppled over. “I’m not staying here if she is. What if she attacks me?”

“You’d die,”Sinara replied helpfully. Then, at the look on Tess’ face, she forced herself to stop making the situation worse. “I won’t, okay? I don’t beat people up just for the hell of it.” She crossed her arms over her chest, not looking at anyone in particular as she continued,“I went down for assaulting my last foster father.”

Raina’s face softened, just a tad. “He deserve it?”

“Oh yeah.” Sinara swallowed hard. Grill had been a nightmare from day one.“He had it coming.”

“Fine.” Raina sat back down, recrossing her arms as if nothing had happened. “I’m still not sharing, Pepper.”

That almost made Sinara smile.

Almost.


End file.
